Profession faces economic challenges

Manufacturing engineering professionals have remained an essential part of an industry that has become more competitive in the face of economic change.

'As well as the assemblage of parts and cogs, a manufacturing engineer needs to help the company create a product that's well-finished,' said Kevin Lau, general manager of Joyas Manufacturing, a company that makes silver and metal-plated products, such as table-top clocks, calculators, photo frames, key chains, personal accessories and household gifts.

'Each part of the process and its delivery has a chance of producing waste. Our items tend to be very shiny. If there is any scratch, it counts as a wasted product and we need to start again. The manufacturing engineer needs to solve problems to prevent this,' he said.

Joyas, which was founded in 1991, is one of many Hong Kong companies with mainland manufacturing facilities that have had to adjust operations in the face of a rising yuan and mainland labour law reforms.

In addition, an increase of wealth is transforming many of the mainland's manufacturing zones into retail hubs.

With only 10per cent of its manufacturing engineers from Hong Kong, the company is preparing to relocate to one of the northwest provinces to keep profit margins high and labour costs low.

'Most of our manufacturing engineers are from the mainland,' Mr Lau said. 'We still use Hong Kong manufacturing engineers mainly because they have an international mindset and can communicate with our clients more easily. But the mainland is catching up.'

With salaries one third lower than their Hong Kong counterparts, mainland manufacturing engineers prove irresistible to companies. However, according to Winco Yung, associate professor at Polytechnic University's Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, an understanding of innovation and a sophisticated integration of skills is making the profession evolve globally. Courses at local universities are turning out professionals who can keep Hong Kong at the cutting edge of industrial change.

'In Hong Kong and worldwide, a new hybrid profession, which integrates a knowledge of industrial design, manufacturing engineering and product development technology, is forming,' Dr Yung said.

'This will be strategically positioned as an 'integrator' and 'promoter' that transforms the Hong Kong manufacturing industry into an innovation-sensitive economy.'

This comes at a time when manufacturing companies are in need of solutions as many slash their workforce and subcontract processes, such as product design and engineering system development, to keep costs down.

Joyas, which has failed to convince customers to use cheaper materials such as aluminium instead of zinc iron, is cutting back on logistics by moving all of its operations into one factory. Mr Lau believes that in addition to increasing profits, this may help maintain quality, the prime reason for keeping its market position. Joyas trains its manufacturing engineers to make sure the company makes top-notch quality products.

'We provide training and prefer not to subcontract because quality is an important part of our products, and it requires a great deal of know-how,' Mr Lau said.

'Not all companies can produce quality like us in terms of design and finishing. Many are just interested in mass production.'

Technical (HK) Manufacturing, which creates kitchenware, has simplified its designs to maintain quality products that keep the company afloat in the modern marketplace.

'We have faced a dramatic increase in costs,' said Brian Sun, managing director of Technical (HK) Manufacturing.

'These include manufacturing materials, operation costs, wages and community requirements from the Chinese government. We have tried to cut costs by simplifying design features without affecting product functions. We also have control systems in place to tightly monitor production.'

As companies streamline processes to make design and quality control a priority, consumers have become more sophisticated, demanding higher quality products. With that, the profession has evolved, and manufacturing engineers need to think well beyond the skills that make procedures efficient enough to compete in the marketplace.

'Manufacturing engineers need to understand more than just how to apply new manufacturing technology in an efficient manner to remain competitive,' Dr Yung said.

'A good manufacturing engineer should have impressive technological skills as well as a vision for the future development of the company and themselves. Good communication skills are also needed for the engineer to collaborate within and outside of the company while keeping a high standard of professional ethics and judgment,' Dr Yung said. 'The notion of competing through innovation will be the business trend this decade. There is a tremendous amount of motivation and interest from local, or even regional industries, and they are eager to grasp this knowledge and know-how to get a competitive edge.'